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SUBJECT:

Volunteers in Routine Law Enforcement Project Status Report

REPORT IN BRIEF

In July 2000, the Department of Public Safety began the process of designing and implementing a narrowly focused pilot program using volunteers in low risk/liability situations such as issuing citations for disabled-access parking and fire lane violations, and/or marking abandoned vehicles for eradication.

Staff researched law enforcement volunteer programs in neighboring communities, focusing on how volunteers were used, policy and procedures, selection processes, uniforms and logistics. In addition, staff attended a 2-day volunteer seminar where additional data was collected. Staff decided that the program would focus on one low risk assignment, marking abandoned vehicles. The assignment also would include associated administrative tasks.

Based on research and DPS Bureau of Professional Standards current procedures, volunteer-screening criteria were established. A general policies and procedures document, the Volunteer Team Agreement, was created and then submitted for the City Attorney’s approval (Attachment A). The training needs were defined and an instruction program and training checklist (Attachment B) were developed.

In December 2001, DPS began recruiting for the Volunteers in Routine Law Enforcement Program. Through these efforts three volunteers were selected and two of the three completed their training. The third volunteer accepted another volunteer position and resigned from DPS. Volunteers were asked to work a minimum of one 3-5 hour shift per week, Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM. The first volunteers were marking vehicles by April 2002. Two volunteers worked in the program from April 2002 through June 2002, when both left the program.

The Sunnyvale Public Safety Volunteers in Routine Law Enforcement Program appeared to have the potential of being very successful. For this reason, Public Safety management decided to absorb the cost of the program in FY02/03, rather than waste the already expended effort. Staff also decided, without Council’s direction, to continue the project without dedicated funding. Sunnyvale Public Safety staff failed to provide the Council with this status report at the end of the project in July 2002.

BACKGROUND

Public Safety has a strong history with volunteer positions, mainly in administrative assignments, field support and for special events. Currently Public Safety maintains a base of volunteers including:

2 Law Enforcement Aides,

4 Administrative Support Volunteers,

A Special Events team of approximately (25), and

15-20 Explorers

Additionally, we have the established volunteer base from the Office of Emergency Services (0ES) such as Amateur Radio Operators (SARES) as well as the neighborhood members involved in Sunnyvale Neighbors Actively Prepare (SNAP)

This pilot project was the first time that DPS had attempted to use volunteers in enforcement activities. The concept approved by Council included some parking enforcement and the marking of abandoned vehicles. In the interest of volunteer safety, and city liability, a relatively conservative approach was used and volunteers were assigned the minimum risk task of marking abandoned vehicles.

EXISTING POLICY

Admin Policy Chap3 Art XII Sect. 1-10,

Public Safety DGOM 6.10.04-05

DISCUSSION

In June of 2000, Council directed Public Safety staff to begin research and implementation of a pilot volunteer project. Initial delays and staffing changes in early 2001 contributed in the project delay. In September of 2001, Community Service Officer was assigned to this project and initial efforts identified benchmarks of the surrounding agencies for volunteers, research and procurement of equipment to support the program (i.e. infrastructure, radios, uniforms, etc.). Two volunteers had been hired, trained and were working in April of 2002.

Funding for this project was from the General Fund and appropriated in fiscal year 1999/2000. The project was created for a two year period - fiscal year 2000 / 2001 and 2001 / 2002 - with funding in the amount of $44,745. The initial estimate for this project was $40,600 and was increased to $44,745 due to anticipated overtime costs associated to the program.

The implementation of this project was not fully underway until Community Service Officer took over the project in September of 2001. Between September 2001 and June 30, 2002, a total of 705.70 hours were used to recruit, conduct the background checks, select and train the original three volunteers (Attachment C). These hours resulted in $41,638 of salary expense for a Lieutenant, Community Service Officer and supporting DPS staff. (Attachment D) Communication equipment and print shop charges where also purchased adding $2,110 of cost to this project. Initial training for each volunteer was considerable and included Communications and Dispatch training, radio procedures and etiquette, How to Mark and Tag abandon vehicles, Citation writing, Fire Lane violations, Municipal Code, City Vehicle Orientation and Electric Vehicle Operation. Following this initial training, each volunteer received individual field training with a Nuisance Vehicle Inspector. A total of 67.5 hours was spent on individualized training for the volunteers.

In April 2002, the two (2) volunteers began to work independently to mark and tag vehicles. Between April 2002 and June 2002, approximately 80 vehicles were marked and tag through this program. The program experienced a set back at the end of June 2002 when all initial volunteers left the program. Three volunteers had initially started. One dropped out early on due to personal reasons, and the remaining two left in June. One volunteer left for personal reasons and the other because he was working as an intern and completed his assignment. Between April 2002 and June 2002, the volunteers worked a total of 95 hours in this program.

As mentioned above, staff decided, without Council’s direction, to continue the project without dedicated funding. Sunnyvale Public Safety staff failed to provide the Council with this status report at the end of the project in July 2002.

The decision to continue forward with the project, while good intentioned, was wrong and staff should have sought Council’s direction. Instead, after a brief analysis, it was determine that staff could absorb the demands of the program and Public Safety Management decided to continue to the project with existing resources. This decision in part was due to staff’s (Crime Prevention personnel’s) enthusiasm over the potential of the program. With the anticipated budgetary issues, the Director of Public Safety saw a viable volunteer program as being a valuable source for assistance and support for Public Safety programs.

In September 2002, Community Service Officer began another recruiting drive for the Law Enforcement Aids. The recruitment drive was slow as there was not much interest in the program until January 2003. From the initiation of this project, we have attempted to maintain two volunteers in the program. This has been accomplished even with a consistent turn over rate in volunteer personnel. The project has supported, with existing funding, two volunteers with minimal impact on staff’s time.

Many valuable lessons where learned by Public Safety during this pilot project. Much of what we learned, we have taken and are applying today as we continue to pursue a volunteer program within DPS. We recognize the cost savings and value of this program and the level of service this brings to the Department and the community.

Initial experiences of this pilot program was affected by:

• Lack of communication through out the Department concerning the purpose of the program or clear direction for the program with defined expectations.
• Poor response to recruiting efforts, which have been improved with the help of the city’s Volunteer Services
• Background investigation process is time consuming for both the volunteers and the investigators. Several candidates were disqualified during the background process.
• Initially, too narrow of a job description. The position has been expanded slightly to encourage variety.

During the second year of the project, the Department failed to properly charge hours directly to the project. Instead, staff had been charging hours to the operating budget in the area of Crime Prevention. During an end of year review of the Department budget and existing projects, this oversight was identified and a correction was written in accounting period 14. This correction was the best estimate of hours used to support the project during the fiscal year.

The future steps Public Safety proposes for the Volunteers in Law Enforcement program are:

• Maintain and evolve the program. DPS currently has two Law Enforcement Aide Volunteers working in the Department. One volunteer has completed training and is ready to start in the field. The second volunteer is returning and will go through refresher training. Given the experiences of the initial pilot program, parking violation enforcement was an assignment added to the volunteer position assignments. In addition, volunteers may also assist with radar trailer deployment.
• Expand internal volunteer opportunities using existing positions and creating new Volunteer positions as needed.
• Continue to work closely to insure consistency with record keeping, recruiting, policy, Supervisor training and risk management.
• Improve management oversight of the program and accountability
• Maintain an ongoing evaluation to ensure the program’s demands do not result in a decrease in Crime Prevention Services.

Public Safety is committed to continuing to utilize volunteers. It provides an outstanding opportunity for the public to get an inside look at how the Public Safety Department is run, and also gives Public Safety staff a chance to learn from others. The use of volunteers in the low risk enforcement activities is possible, with adequate supervision and support. Supervision of established volunteers is a shared responsibility throughout the Department and is therefore easily absorbed.

Public Safety does not want to overlook the fact that some of the most helpful assistance provided by volunteers is with the administrative tasks. With volunteers to alleviate backlogged filing and data entry, as well as, handling non-emergency customer assistance, research and other duties, staff can respond to more immediate tasks. The Volunteers in Routine Law Enforcement Program is one DPS would like to continue while maintaining and growing our overall volunteer program.

FISCAL IMPACT

The project oversight will continue to be in the Crime Prevention Unit. The supervision of this project will be included within staff’s current duties, without a reduction of service levels. Due to the initial investment in the program, ongoing expenses are anticipated to be minimal. They will include staff time for volunteer supervision & coordination, staff & volunteer training, uniforms, equipment purchase and replacement. It is anticipated staff time will be approximately 5 hours per week, a total cost not to exceed $11,928 for FY 03-04. This time may fluctuate depending on vacancy rates within the program. It is anticipated that Administration oversight will be at a higher level to ensure prior mistakes are not repeated.

PUBLIC CONTACT

Public contact was made through posting of the Council agenda on the city's official notice bulletin board, posting of the agenda and report on the city's web page, publication of the Council agenda in the San Jose Mercury News, and the availability of the report in the Library and the City Clerk's Office.

ALTERNATIVES

Staff recognizes that there are no current funds to support the project. However staff also recognizes that a viable volunteer program can be extremely valuable to not only the Department of Public Safety, but to the City and community. Staff also recognizes that the initial "start up costs" of the program have already been invested. These can be seen as one time costs. While it is true that there will be some minimal maintenance costs as the program continues, staff believes there are sufficient resources in the current budget to support a small volunteer force, without reducing current service levels of the Crime Prevention Unit.

1. Continue the project within the Crime Prevention activities for the remainder of FY03/04. Provide a report back to Council by June 2004 with a detailed analysis and recommendations for continuation or cancellation of the program. This analysis will include time spent on recruitment, backgrounds, selection, training, duties performed, time spent on said duties as well as further recommendations to improve the program.
2. Abandon the project and release the current Law Enforcement Aide Volunteers that are responsible for the marking and tagging vehicles in the Crime Prevention program.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends Alternative #1, that the project is worthy of continuing and that Public Safety continues the project using existing funds.

Prepared by:
Mark Stivers
Captain, Police Services

Reviewed by:
Irwin I. Bakin
Director, Public Safety

Attachments

1. Volunteer Team Agreement
2. Training Checklist
3. Hour Breakdown Information
4. Budget Information

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